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Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/brian-crawford/living-a-life-that-counts-for-eternity/
Let's read a couple of verses in 1st Timothy, please, Chapter 4. Now, brother, you didn't have to explain what a curb was, but I didn't know what zimmer was, so I'm glad there was motions there. I knew what you meant by a zimmer.
Okay. 1st Timothy, Chapter 4, and before I come down, I had originally been asked to maybe if there was a Young Peoples to have something ready for them. And because of circumstances, there wasn't one last night, but I've been having this.
It's on my heart, so I think I will give it even this afternoon, even though there are some that are older young people here as well. So let's just look at 1st Timothy, Chapter 4, and we're going to read in a verse number 12.
I've enjoyed this before, but I'm just looking at it a little differently than I have. And so let's just read verse number 12. It says, let no man despise thy youth. Be thou an example of the believers in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.
Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine, neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy by the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. Meditate upon these things.
Give thyself wholly to them, that thy profiting may appear to all. Take heed unto thyself and unto the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee.
Now, God will bless to us the reading of his precious word. Just as I was sitting and thinking of this message that I hope the Lord will give help, I was thinking back a few years when our brother was telling his age, and I always thought he was older than me.
Now I feel bad that I'm older than him, but that's okay. I was 18 years old, 1976. It was an Arnstein Conference weekend, so it was September. And Sunday afternoon, you know, after all the roast beef that they have at Arnstein and everybody was sort of settling in for the afternoon, Mr. Richard Hanna got up to speak.
Now, I didn't know him in his earlier days, but he's home from the mission field, and because of voice problems, he had a very, very soft and quiet voice. You had to really pay attention to hear what he had to say.
And being a person of 18 years of age and other men that were there that year, I'm not sure who, but usually it was people like Mr. Piercy or even Mr. Ramsey was there quite often, and you were expecting someone like them to get up and just reinvigorate you, to get the blood flowing, and Mr. Hanna got up.
And I was thinking to myself, you know, that a lot of people maybe were going to doze off. And yet, I can look back to that Sunday afternoon in 1976, and the message that Mr. Hanna had that day had a profound effect upon my life.
I don't know if you know my background, both my parents were saved, but my father was not in the assembly, still not in the assembly, though he's still alive, and because of that, we didn't get away a lot.
My mother had four boys, and by the time I got to be 16, 17, my best friend at the time, who was two years older, he started taking me to conferences, and that was really my first exposure to conferences.
And I can remember Mr. Hanna getting up that afternoon, and he spoke from 1 Chronicles chapter 20, or 1 Chronicles chapter 29. And his text was, who then is willing to consecrate his service this day unto the Lord?
And that message that he had that day, I firmly believe that I heard the voice of God. And there was an effect upon my outlook, upon my expectation for the future, and a new desire was put into my heart that I would serve the Lord.
I didn't mean in this capacity, but just that my life would have value, would have worth for God, because God had saved me for a reason. He didn't save me just to wander around aimlessly. And young person in this meeting this afternoon, I hope you understand that, that God has a very specific purpose in saving you, oh, not just to rescue you from a lost eternity, but that your life might count for eternity, that your life might in some way bring glory to the Lord Jesus Christ that we have been hearing about.
And the younger you start, and the younger if you are saved, that you get this in your mind, it will serve you in good stead as you begin to mature as a Christian. So I want to encourage, and we're so glad to see the young people who have taken the time to come to this conference this week, and we're glad you're here.
And we trust that this will be a time and a word of encouragement for you, because I can remember even though I was 18, and I would see these, well, I thought they were older men. I guess they weren't really that old.
And you could see in them that, yes, they have a purpose, and they have a purpose in this life, and there's a reason for what they're doing, and that's so far removed from what I am. But I'm amazed, and maybe you know this, but I'm amazed when you go through the Word of God, the number of young people that God raised up at specific times, and they did a mighty work for God.
You know what? Perhaps that's in the plans for you today. Perhaps that's down the road for you as a young believer, that there is the potential there for God to raise you up and use you for His glory.
Just for a few minutes, just think of some of these people. We'll look at the things that characterize them in a second, but just think of these young people. In case you think the Bible is just all old people, it's not.
There's lots of young people in the Word of God. Remember that when it come to the family of Jacob, literally the nation of Israel, who did God raise up in time of famine? Well, it was a young person.
It was a boy named Joseph, only 17 years of age. And although the course that he took was arduous and was lonesome at times, and yet from that very age at the beginning, and it cost him that he was going to be sold into servitude, he would be a slave in the house of Potiphar, and yet God had His eye on that boy, 17 years old.
I wonder if there's someone here 17. And to think that God has His eye on you today, not just Joseph. Remember when the Philistines came against Israel? We were hearing about that yesterday, wasn't it?
And that God raised up a lad, David, to defeat the enemy. And even Saul, when Saul looked at him, he said, he's but a youth, just a youth. They were expecting one of the older brother types. They were expecting a soldier with the scars, and yet God raised up but a youth.
And He delivered mightily the children of Israel from the hands of the Philistines that day. So there's David. What about when it come to the kingdom, to Israel, why it was a youth that God raised up to lead that nation into its prime, into the most magnificent time that it had, was Solomon.
And Solomon, remember, when he became a king, he thought of himself as just a little child. Listen, don't make excuses that you're not old enough. Listen, if you are saved today, you are old enough to, in your capacity where you are, to glorify God, to bring glory to God, and the potential, the potential that lies ahead for you, just like with this man, Solomon.
What about when it come to Judah, the tribes of Judah? They had departed from the Lord. They had departed into idolatry, into wickedness, and yet it was just a child that God raised up to restore Judah to the worship of the true and living God.
Think of that boy, Josiah. You read in 2 Chronicles 34, and you'll find out when he became king, eight years old. That's not very old. And when he was 16, it says that he sought to serve the Lord. And then when he was 20, he instituted religious reform throughout Judah, and when he was 26, he instigated, he initiated the restoration of the temple and of the resumption of the Passover.
Started out when he was eight. God had his hand and his eye upon him. Listen, God has his eye on you today, and there is in you the potential for great things. I think of David. Poor David. Well, his dad didn't even think of him when they were to bring him before Samuel.
Oh, he's just out in the field. His brothers, they looked at him and they said, you know, you're just here because you want to see the fighting. And even Saul, as I said, he looked at him as he was...
There were so many things against him, but he continued on and God used him mightily. What about when it came time for a voice to be raised about judgment to the nations? Well, God raised up a man named Jeremiah.
And in Jeremiah chapter 1, as he tries to escape this call, God told him, listen, don't say I'm but a youth. Even though he was just young, even though he was going to be called to do things that I hope I'm never called to do, that God said, don't use as an excuse that I'm but a youth.
So don't sit there today if you're a young person and think, well, what can I do for God? Listen, in the place you're in, with the company you keep, with the friends you have, wherever you move, you can there glorify God in your life before your unsaved friends.
So here was a youth that was raised up. What about... Who did God use to reveal his sovereignty? The one that... The most high God, the one that raises up and puts down as he sees fit. Who did he... It was just a boy, Daniel.
Remember when Daniel was taken in captivity? As he would come up, he was likely just barely a teenager. And then after those number of years when he was brought into the very court of Nebuchadnezzar, there as a young boy, he moved amongst that king and he prophesied of coming things.
What about the one who was chosen to bring the Savior into the world? There's Mary, just a maid, just a young girl, and yet God used that maid for the most momentous of events. Through her, the Savior of the world came into existence.
He came into being in this world here when he was born in Bethlehem. What about even Timothy here? Timothy, he is called to proclaim the gospel now. If you go back to Acts chapter 16, where we first read of Timothy, when Paul calls him to assist him, and now 14 years later or so when this epistle is written, Paul is calling him a youth here.
He must have been really young when he took him out to preach, when he took him out in the gospel. And so there were these different ones, this different potential that was there in these young people to be used of God.
And I want to tell you today that if you allow yourself to be used of God, God is willing to use you. He wants to use you. And as we look around and as we see people getting older, then you need to make yourself available so that God can use you for the furtherance of his purposes, for the furtherance not only of the gospel, but of the assembly where you're a part of.
And if you're not part of, you should be part of. And so God has a purpose in mind for you. But you know, when we think of these people, God won't just use anyone. You see, there was something unique about these people, something in their lifestyle or their character that allowed God to use them.
You know, when I think of Joseph, that first one we mentioned, he was able to use Joseph because Joseph was willing to flee immorality. He was willing to trust in God and instead of the circumstances that he was found, remember the story how he fled from Potiphar's wife.
And so he was willing to keep himself no matter the cost, no matter what it was going to cost him. And it cost him dearly. It cost him prison. It cost him that incarceration. And yet because it was far better to fear God than fear man, he said no to the advances of that immoral woman.
Dear young person in the meeting today, I think one of the greatest problems that is facing this world, this young people especially, is the wanton immorality that is in this world. There is absolutely no boundaries and just even saying no is not enough, literally.
They must flee those type of things because they will tear you down and they will defile that which is the temple of the holy God. And unless you keep yourself, keep yourself pure, then God is able to use.
Such tragedy when we see things that are happening around us when a young person with such potential for the things of God and yet they are overwhelmed, they are overcome by the desires of the flesh, by the things of this world and we see them have a horrific fall.
Oh, dear young person, keep yourself for God. Keep yourself pure. Even in the epistle here, 1 Timothy, that's the whole bent of this epistle is godliness. Godliness in the face of a world that is absolutely ungodly, absolutely wicked and immoral.
And here was a man named Joseph and there was an opportunity and it would have meant his advancement probably. It would have meant even a higher place in that house. But he feared God more than he feared the women.
He feared man and because of that, he suffered. And so here was this man able to be used because he was willing to flee immorality. What about David? David was used of God because he was a man, a boy that was willing to trust God.
You know why he could trust God when he come to Goliath? Because he had experienced God in the little things. He had trusted God in the quiet times, in the small places. And because his confidence in God grew, when there came time for that Goliath, for that giant, he was able to put his confidence in God.
He could remember the other times. He could remember when the bear came or when the wolf came. And all those different times when he was outnumbered or when there was things that was greater than him, by putting his confidence in God, he was able to withstand the enemy.
And so that's why it's so important to look to God for the little things in life, in the small things in life that we don't even think of to speak to God about, to pray to God about those things and to trust him for those little things so when the big challenge comes, we'll be able to trust God.
And so he was one that was willing to trust God. But what about Solomon? Solomon, God used Solomon because he was a man that had proper priorities. You know, he could have had wealth, riches. He could have had, and he did get them.
He could have had long years and all those things, and he did get them, relatively speaking. But because right from the beginning, what did he ask for? He asked for wisdom. He asked that God would give him wisdom so that he could rule over his people properly.
He'd been given something that was valuable, the people of God. And to rule over them, he knew that he was going to need God's wisdom. You know what the Lord said? He said, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.
There's nothing wrong with those other things. There's nothing wrong with a roof over our head, with clothes on our back, food to eat. All those things are necessary. But we have seen so many lives that the whole emphasis and bent of their life is those things that as far as spiritual matters, they've absolutely nothing for God in their lives.
Oh, they've been great people, great businessmen, perhaps even good fathers, but there has been nothing in it for God because they had the wrong priorities. What are your priorities today? Is it the furtherance of the kingdom of God?
Is it glorifying the Lord Jesus Christ? Is it trying to, in me, that the world around might see something of Christ in me, in my actions, in my talk, and in my walk? Here was a man that had right priorities.
You know what the saddest thing is, and we've run into a few people like this, older men, and their lives are pretty well over, and they sit there and lament that, if I had another opportunity, I would do it different.
I would have put God first. I see now that some of the choices that I made, that my priority wasn't Christ, my priority wasn't the assembly. And now it's too late, and all they can do is sit there and lament.
Young people in this meeting, you have an opportunity to set your priorities at a young age. And if your priorities at the very center is Christ, the things of Christ, the assembly of Christ, the word of God, then listen, you are a person that God will willingly pick up and use for his eternal glory.
And so there was someone that had a proper priority. But, you know, not only did he use someone with proper priorities, when it come to Josiah, he used someone with a humble spirit, humility. And, you know, I know as a young person, because I used to be one of them, and sometimes, you know, we think we deserve more, we think we should demand more.
And you know what, that's not a Christlike spirit. If there's an example you want, it's the Lord Jesus, because the one who could have asked for so much more, he was the one who humbly, willingly took the lower place.
He said, I didn't come to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give my life a ransom for many. And so think of this Josiah, and even the commendation of God later on in Chapter 34, 2 Chronicles.
He says, because thy heart was tender. Oh, he had a tender heart, and he was humble before God, and the things that God allowed him to do, he didn't let it go to his head, he didn't get all puffed up about it, but he just did it in the fear of God, with the power of God, and he was able to let God work through him.
And so, someone with humility, a humble spirit, a Christlike spirit, humble before God and before others. And so, he used him because of his humility. When it come to Jeremiah, well, with Jeremiah, although at first he balked, well, there came a time when he became bold.
Not arrogant, but because he knew who was behind him, because he knew who was the one that was giving him this message to tell, he could tell it with absolute authority and boldness, because he knew it was the Word of God.
And so, there needs to be that, you know, we're not, I was going to say we're not all like Brother Murray over here. You know, I wish I could be more like that in some ways, because I sometimes regret that I don't have that type of boldness.
And I'm saying that in a good way, brother, okay? I'm not saying it in a bad way. Just, you know, just to be able to speak to people like that, I wish I had a little bit more of that. But God is able, and here was this man, Jeremiah, even though he was, even though at first he didn't want to, God used him, and he was used mightily of God as he proclaimed the doom of the nations that were around.
But I want to get very quick, and my time is gone. I think of people, young people like Timothy, and he will use people who are willing to be an example. That's what he says here. He says, let no man despise thy youth, but be thou an example, an example not only to the believers, but an example of the believers, of what true believers are like.
And there's six characteristics that he gives here. I'm not going to go into them, but he says, in word, there's speech. What do we talk like? Do we talk like the world, or is there reverence in the way we talk?
I don't mean we go around saying thee and thou. That's not what I'm saying. But I'm saying that there is a reverence. We're not with the frivolities and the innuendos of this world. So he's an example in word, in conversation, his manner of life, in love, in spirit.
That is his zeal, or in faith, and in holiness, or in purity. That is the type of person, young person, that God will use, those that are an example, an example of and to the believers. What is really on my mind in the last couple of minutes is that although we can exhort these young people, and we do exhort you, we that are older, listen, we have a big responsibility.
And it's not enough just to exhort them, but we have a responsibility to the young, that we need to encourage them, we need to mentor them. We need to carry them along as they go in their Christian journey.
I am so thankful that when I was 18 1⁄2, 19 years old, when I moved over to North Bay, where I lived for many years, that there was a man there. And for some reason, he saw in me something that maybe no one else saw, that I didn't even see.
And that man tenaciously, even when I wanted to say no, he was always, Brian, let's go out visiting. Brian, let's go out and give out some Bibles. Let's go out and knock on some doors. And we had tent meetings.
And that man, he was always there for me, and he corrected me when I needed it. He gave me direction when I was going astray, and yet he supported me so wonderfully as he tried to mold me into something that God could use.
And I appreciate that man, and I revere that man's name. And I am so thankful that God sent someone like that into my life. I wonder, for us that are older, is there a younger person that you know that you could be a help to?
That you could come alongside and try to give them a little bit of direction? Because, you know, so often we expect adults out of young people. We expect someone with maturity that hasn't got that far yet, and because of that, we look down on them.
That's what despise means here. Let no man look down on them. And so he says, let no man despise thy youth. Be thou an example. So just as the Lord Jesus, we ought to receive them. As older folks, we need to receive the young, not look at them as an inconvenience, but rather they are the future.
If the Lord doesn't come, they are the future of assembly testimony. They are the future of gospel outreach, these young people. And so just as the Lord Jesus, he said, we're to receive them. And we're not only to receive them, we're not to put stumbling blocks in their way.
So often we, you know, we're like the Pharisees of old. We place heavy burdens on their backs that they shouldn't have to bear. And so if we truly have a love for them and we want to see them prosper, we want to see them to be a blessing to the assembly, we are to receive them.
We're not to place a stumbling block in front of them, but also we ought to encourage them. Have you ever, as I can remember as a younger person, when someone would come along after maybe you stuttered through a bit of worship Sunday morning, and they say, you know what?
We're really glad to hear you this morning. That was great. Or you get up and you try your hand in the gospel and you went backwards and around and upside down and you don't know where you were. And they say, you know what?
That was really good. We're glad you're trying. And maybe sometimes they correct you a bit or even the sisters, the younger sisters to come along and say, you know, we're glad you're here and the example that you are.
And it's so wonderful when someone tells them that they're doing good, that they're bringing joy to the people of God. And so instead of discouraging them, they don't need to be discouraged. There are so many things in this world that are going to discourage them without your help.
And it's really incumbent upon us. If we want to see things prosper in the assembly and even in their lives, that we be encouragers. Do we encourage? Now, I'm not saying that we agree with everything they do.
I'm not saying that sometimes we don't have to take them aside and say, you know what? You know what? Maybe if you just maybe tried this or this just a little difference, they need that. They need to be nurtured.
They need to be admonished. But they do need to be encouraged. And so he says here, let no man despise thy youth. I hope we don't despise the young. Don't look down on them. That we see Christ in them.
That we see that here is someone that Christ has died for and has saved and now had been given us a responsibility that we're to nurture them. We're to help them to grow in the things of God. And what a wonderful thing it is when you see a young believer and they start out maybe a certain way and you wonder, are they ever going to make it?
And then after a few years, you see them by prospering in the things of God, becoming men and women of the word of God, of the scriptures. Because listen, as a young person, that is where your maturity and your prosperity will come from.
Because when he speaks here about being an example, how do they be an example? How do they learn these things? Well, he says, till I come, give attendance to the reading, to the exhortation, to doctrine.
Meditate upon these things. Give thyself wholly to them. And so if you want to be something for God, and I hope you do, that there is opportunity that God has given you, that you could be something, someone for God.
Maybe just in the sphere that you're in, whether it's at work, whether it's at home, in the assembly, whatever God might have in the plans, in the future for you, God has a purpose. And in that purpose, he will lead you along that way if you are willing, if you give yourself to the word of God, if you meditate on these things, and if you have something of these characteristics that were found in these young people.
And what a blessing it will be, not only to you, but to the assembly. The assembly where you are will be blessed because of your attendance to the word of God, because of your desire to glorify and honor the Lord Jesus Christ.
And as you leave this conference, maybe in your mind you'll have a fresh desire, a fresh directive and desire that you will seek to honor and glorify God in your body.